WELCOME

Founded in 1837 as the Salem Seamen’s Orphans’ Society, the organization known today as Children’s Friend and Family Services, Inc. is one of the Northeast’s oldest children’s charities, the result of several historic agencies merging over time into a single, vibrant entity. Over the last 173 years, Children’s Friend has evolved in response to the needs of youth and families, developing counseling, mentoring, child care and juvenile court programs, and becoming a regional organization with offices in Gloucester, Lynn, Lawrence, and Salem.

Today, this thriving organization is serving over 2,500 children and families each year throughout Essex County and Merrimack Valley and remains focused on its core mission…“To improve the lives of children and promote strong families by partnering with community organizations to provide services to strengthen individuals, families and community life”.

In 2009, as a result of the Rosie D. consent decree / Massachusetts Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI), Children’s Friend won competitive contracts to be the Community Service Agency providing wraparound services to MassHealth-enrolled children residing in the Lawrence and Lynn catchment areas. We were also selected to provide Therapeutic Mentoring and In Home Therapy services and plan to ultimately expand availability to all of our program sites.

Our Vision Statement

“Children’s Friend will provide services which have impact and sustainable outcomes; and will do so in a cost effective manner, using best practice models for both programs and operations.”

Our Values Statements

• A Lasting Difference. We engage in activities that result in lasting improvement in the lives of children and families.
• Respect and Care. Meeting our mission depends on building and sustaining effective relationships with partners within and outside Children’s Friend. Our relationships are our most precious assets. We approach every relationship with respect and care.
• Openness to Change. We seek and value the views of all of our partners – clients, purchasers, vendors, internal and external colleagues, collaborators.
• Responsibility and Accountability. Every employee, volunteer and Board member is entrusted by the organization, on behalf of children and families, with important responsibilities, choices and resources.
• Learning. In striving to better serve our clients, constant learning is necessary.